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Poker Video: MTT/SNG by Skitz0Frenik (Micro/Small Stakes)

even if people are playing somewhat loose preflop i think it doesnt matter bc most people generally play so fit or fold postflop here. def an open imo

Exactly. Our position and this type of hand makes our decisions very simple postflop. We can get a lot of value in this spot vs. weak players.

I think A6o is right on the edge for shoving, folding it is not a big deal. I disagree with shoving "any suited connector", folding 76s or worse seems right. Shoving 32s is pretty bad.

Against loose callers, you have to tighten up quite a bit.

Would have to look at SNG Wiz to be certain, but you may be right my given range is too wide here. Remember though, this series is aimed to get us shoving instead of folding! Some spots that would be a shove on Stars are a fold on Tilt, so I will have to be more careful with those borderline spots when antes aren't in play.

When would you do a stop and go instead of a shove?

A stop n' go is when I call a preflop raise then shove the flop when first to act. Is that what you're referring to? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding your question. You are referring to the J9o hand where I am in the small blind?

You can even shove in this spot.

Raising and folding would suck, but it's not the end of the world.

Yeah I prefer a raise fold. Without antes and that third short stack we really don't need to shove here to accomplish what we're hoping to accomplish. I would maybe shove in this spot if the BB never folds to raises pre and is going to give me problems postflop.

Remember though, this series is aimed to get us shoving instead of folding!

Sure. Just lay out the principles and we'll worry about the details later in the thread. Making us think about taking a more aggressive line in some spots is a victory in itself.

Great to see an actual SNG Series at DC, I'm going to have to renew my membership and check this out.

Keep in mind this is a 4 episode mini-series, and it's pretty much the first STT SNG content we've seen since late 2009.

Personally, I'd love it if skitz0 would make an SNG series like AMT's Last Man Standing. It'd be nice to get a different perspective. If it really needs to be that different in concept, perhaps aim at lower midstakes SNGs (like the $22s, which I'd like to break into).

Can't wait to watch this mini-series. This is exactly what I've been looking for in DC's content. Thanks!

Great video. Almost every hand you touched on seemed to be a spot that I've had/have questions about. I'm similar to Rigged, in that, I'm a little too tight and am missing equity spots by being tighter. I've learned to loosen up selectively by using Vandweller's grinder episode 2 outline. (Basically, using the 4 factors to determine whether or not I should be shoving.
My hand strength
How likely my opponent will fold (fold equity)
What I am risking (current tournament equity)
What is my reward (% my stack will increase if I'm successful).
I used to play at Stars too and now just at Full tilt. When I switched I would still just use the blinds that I'm attempting to steal as my percentage reward instead of blinds + antes as my percentage reward. If I stood to increase my stack by at least 15-20% I'd factor that in as a pro shove play. When you use a percentage it will sway you to be slightly tighter because of the missing antes you're not stealing. I don't know if that helps quantify the difference in shoving ranges, but it does help make my a decision a little clearer. Typically it makes about a one orbit difference on whether or not I would've shoved a particular hand. Hope that all made sense.
Nice job touching on some of the smaller, often overlooked aspects of STT turbo play. Really like the hands on playing 99, 1010 early. Also, asking what hands you would drop if the circumstances were slightly different (opponents stack size, number of players left, position were different) really helps emphasize the thought process and not just the hand being played. Discussing on what to do post flop was great. I sometimes am too cautious to raise because I sometimes have a "yeah,but" attitude when I hit an ugly board for my hand. But, I think I'm starting to realize although that specific hand may not turn out the way I wanted it to, it was still correct to raise in the long run.
Please keep making videos like this, good job. Good luck Rigged, I'm pulling for ya.

Sure. Just lay out the principles and we'll worry about the details later in the thread. Making us think about taking a more aggressive line in some spots is a victory in itself.

Can't tell if this is sarcastic so I'll respond to both interpretations, lol:

If not sarcastic: Thanks!

If sarcastic: I do want to lay out the principles while still getting to the core details. That said, if I went over as much as I would during a coaching session or got really in-depth, the videos would each be two hours long. An overload of information isn't much better than no information!

Keep in mind this is a 4 episode mini-series, and it's pretty much the first STT SNG content we've seen since late 2009.

Personally, I'd love it if skitz0 would make an SNG series like AMT's Last Man Standing. It'd be nice to get a different perspective. If it really needs to be that different in concept, perhaps aim at lower midstakes SNGs (like the $22s, which I'd like to break into).

I will check out that series and maybe can do something related for my next series. Thanks for the feedback!

Great video. Almost every hand you touched on seemed to be a spot that I've had/have questions about. I'm similar to Rigged, in that, I'm a little too tight and am missing equity spots by being tighter. I've learned to loosen up selectively by using Vandweller's grinder episode 2 outline. (Basically, using the 4 factors to determine whether or not I should be shoving.
My hand strength
How likely my opponent will fold (fold equity)
What I am risking (current tournament equity)
What is my reward (% my stack will increase if I'm successful).
I used to play at Stars too and now just at Full tilt. When I switched I would still just use the blinds that I'm attempting to steal as my percentage reward instead of blinds + antes as my percentage reward. If I stood to increase my stack by at least 15-20% I'd factor that in as a pro shove play. When you use a percentage it will sway you to be slightly tighter because of the missing antes you're not stealing. I don't know if that helps quantify the difference in shoving ranges, but it does help make my a decision a little clearer. Typically it makes about a one orbit difference on whether or not I would've shoved a particular hand. Hope that all made sense.
Nice job touching on some of the smaller, often overlooked aspects of STT turbo play. Really like the hands on playing 99, 1010 early. Also, asking what hands you would drop if the circumstances were slightly different (opponents stack size, number of players left, position were different) really helps emphasize the thought process and not just the hand being played. Discussing on what to do post flop was great. I sometimes am too cautious to raise because I sometimes have a "yeah,but" attitude when I hit an ugly board for my hand. But, I think I'm starting to realize although that specific hand may not turn out the way I wanted it to, it was still correct to raise in the long run.
Please keep making videos like this, good job. Good luck Rigged, I'm pulling for ya.

I haven't seen vandweller's video but those concepts sound right on. I remember when I first started putting the pieces together I came up with a similar, maybe too simple system of looking at stacks, positions, cards, opponents to decided whether to shove or fold. It really is a huge help because when you have three reasons to shove and one reason to fold, chances are your shove is correct and is making you money.

RIGGED! and I are penciled in to make the next video tomorrow (it will be released this Sunday I believe). We were planning on going over some of his post-first video games. If you guys have other things you want us to cover or other ideas, let me know today so we can try and accommodate some ideas and make the series even better!

Since you asked:
Interpreting min raises from early position 4 or 5 handed when your trying to decide if you should shove over the raiser or not. I struggle deciding whether or not it's weakness or strength (monsters under the bed).
Small, mid pairs early in the tourney. Do you have set mining guidelines? I've been using a 15-20BB effective stack size in helping determine whether or not I limp to set mine.
It seems lately that I'm getting shoved on in the early rounds when I open 2.5xbb instead of 3xbb when everyone's 30bb<
Aggressiveness when we are 1st,2nd in chips. What's being aggressive and what's being spewy?
Also, when I started using those four guidelines deciding when to push,it become more of a math decision instead of feeling decision which helped me get over the fear of busting out. Especially when you've got <10bbs, you really aren't risking that much. Chances are with your lack of chips, you have a better chance of getting opponents to fold vs. picking up more traditional "good" hands several times in a row. Just something that helps me get over the conservative hump.
Again, great video can't wait for the next one.

Can't tell if this is sarcastic so I'll respond to both interpretations, lol:

If not sarcastic: Thanks!

This.

Time Link to 01:01:49

According to SNG Wiz this is would be a minus EV shove, even though pretty marginal so. Intuitively this spot is a clear fold for me, but after checking with the Wiz, it's more of a marginal spot (even though still -EV.) I agree that shoving a nice-looking suited connector would be better here, as you would fare better against the calling ranges than if you shove with A-x, which are probably dominated if called.

I noticed you were using an argument of having to take the blinds, in order to retain your folding equity (not being hit by the blinds.) While true you would lose fold equity, your Q isn't that bad at all. Don't you consider your Q value when debating whether to shove in such a marginal spot or not? I would assume that it is very likely that we would have got a better opportunity (like shoving into the BB when folded around to us in the SB) at some later point, without having to make some marginal crazy-looking shove here with A6. I also think we will have pretty OK fold equity even after being hit by the blinds this orbit.